


Homebound

by TheCrownedCorpse



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Entomophobia, F/M, Reader-Insert, here there be bugs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2018-11-04 23:32:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11001300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCrownedCorpse/pseuds/TheCrownedCorpse
Summary: After finding yourself in the world of Thedas with little more than the clothes on your back and your cell phone, you are forced to make a decision. Will you change the events of the game? Will you stay a minor character until you can find your way back home?  Find out the answers to these questions and more within.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is my first attempt at writing in several years. If you see any grammatical/spelling errors, feel free to tell me. I don't technically have a beta but my mom reads over edited versions of these for me.(LOL) I will be adding additional tags whenever I post a chapter. If there is anything that I have failed to tag or have tagged incorrectly, please let me know. With that, here is Homebound. Enjoy!

     Tapping your fingers against the keys of your computer, you stared at the screen blankly. The pounding in your head hadn’t lessened, and it had been nearly a week since it started. _Maybe you should see a doctor?_ Blinking slowly, you flexed your fingers. You weren’t really able to remember why you had opened the word document to begin with. Shrugging your shoulders and discounting the action as muscle memory from the previous semester of school, you stood up. Your eyelids were heavy, but you knew well enough that no sleep would come to you yet. Along with your never ending headache had come a decent bout of insomnia. _You really should see a doctor._  Eyeballing your laptop, you went over your options in your head. You could stay inside and play games until your next shift or you could go for a run, hopefully tiring yourself out enough to get some sleep.

     Sighing, you closed the lid of your laptop and moved to change your clothes. If nothing else maybe the new aches in your muscles would increase your pain tolerance to the headache. Nodding your head, you grabbed your cell phone and keys. Then you tied your shoes before giving yourself a once over in the mirror and leaving your apartment. Deciding that you had about an hour to run before it got dark you settled for a 30 minute run. It wouldn’t be to strenuous and would leave you a little bit of time to get some Chipotle afterwards. Humming lightly at the thought of food, you made your way down the stairs and out the door.

     The chilly air caused you to shiver momentarily before you tugged the sleeves of your jacket down over your hands. You plugged in your earphones and stretched lightly before jogging down the sidewalk. The feeling of your steps hitting the pavement gradually began to take more of your attention than your headache did, though it was still there, nagging incessantly at the back of your mind. Chewing on the inside of your lip, you began to speed up your pace until you reached the trail you usually jogged at.

     Frowning at how empty the trail was, you turned down the volume of your music before running at your usual pace. You continued down the path this way for several minutes, your suspicion only mounting as you continued without passing by any other people. Eyes rapidly flickering around, your heart rate began to increase. You hadn’t even heard any cars pass recently. Speeding up more, you pulled your headphones out. _Sleep deprivation could cause paranoia, right?_  Your hands were shaking. Determined to finish your run before heading home you sped up more, practically sprinting down the trail.

     For this reason you weren’t surprised when you had to take a break shortly after. Breathing harshly, you slumped down, hands on your knees. Maybe it hadn’t been the best of ideas to go running with less than two hours of sleep. Maybe you should have turned around the moment you had noticed that the pathway was empty. But you were determined! Cursing softly you stood back up, glancing around shiftily. You weren’t feeling particularly determined now. _Do it for the Chipotle!_ That thought in your mind, you continued down the trail, only stopping when you saw a wallet lying next to a plastic bag on the side of the path.

     You glared at the wallet. The owner had likely stopped for a break and left their trash. Your frown deepened. Littering was definitely bad, but you couldn’t just leave the wallet there. You found yourself rubbing your forehead even though your headache had lessened in intensity. You heaved a sigh before dragging your feet over to the wallet. You’d just have to throw away their trash and give the person their wallet along with a few choice words of course. Pursing your lips, you thought about it for a moment longer. You could just put the wallet in the bag and give both of them back.

     Snorting at your thoughts, you leaned over and picked up the wallet and bag, noting with some surprise that the bag was heavier than you thought it would be. Frowning, you opened it up and leaned to see what was inside. A water bottle? There was no time to express your confusion before your world exploded in pain.

     A shriek escaped your lips as you began to scratch at your burning face. You stumbled off of the path, one hand reaching for something to hold on to even as the other continued to fumble around your face. Slipping off of the curb was perhaps the most predictable thing you could do, so you did, flinging your arms out sideways to catch yourself on anything you could. Of course, there was nothing there, so you tensed your shoulders, preparing to hit the pavement.

     Instead, you hit something solid and cold which gave way much like water in a pool when you smack it. For a moment, you felt as though you were sinking, slowly descending in a world consumed in darkness and quiet. Then you were falling, the wind howling and tearing at the thin material of your jacket. Opening your eyes, you were surprised to find that you could actually see. The burning behind your eyelids had faded, retreating just enough so that you could feel the headache pounding right behind your eyes as though returning with a vengeance.

     Your vision was filled with various shades of green, some so bright that it hurt to look while others were so dark that they could have been mistaken for black. Angling your body towards what you assumed was the ground you continued to look around, fighting the wave of nausea that came with falling out of the sky. It was only then that you realized that you were looking at what could pass as the sky. _A light green back drop with almost-white, fluffy objects floating suspended against it?_  That probably counted as a sky. With mounting confusion, you noticed platforms jutting out at seemingly random intervals. Were you right side up or what?!  Looking to your left, you noticed a dilapidated building that appeared to be anchored in the opposite direction you were falling. _Well, shit._

     As though the knowledge of your direction was enough, you were suddenly snatched back towards the ground. Thankfully, you weren’t that far up and you hit the ground with little more than a muted thump. Knowing that you were soon going to be feeling the consequences of your fall, you were content to lay there for moment longer. The ground was cold, but it was much more comforting than the sensation of falling through the sky. You closed your eyes momentarily, ignoring the howling of the wind in favor of reorienting yourself. Then you sat up, pulling your ear-buds from around your neck and looking at the time on your phone. Releasing a breath, you noted that the screen was still fully functional even after the fall. You took a screen-shot of the home page, before putting your phone back in your pocket. It was looking like it would take you a while to get home, so the least you could do was remember what time and date you arrived. _I suppose that’s true even if I have no idea where I am._

     Ignoring the beginning of aches forming in your back, you looked around with a critical eye. It was like no place you had ever been before and yet it seemed familiar. Outside of the platforms that hung in the air with no regard to gravity, there wasn’t much to see. Puddles littered the ground though it wasn’t raining, and the amount of dusty, dry land suggested that there hadn’t been any in a long time. The color scheme was pretty dull, the green washing out the brightness of whatever other colors there might have been. Nearly all of the buildings were broken down and made of stone. Despite their random appearance, there seemed to be a pattern in the way that they were built and you could faintly make out the remains of a trail beneath the dust. To top it off, you seemed to be entirely alone.

     Sniffing, you decided that this was a good thing. After all, this was like no version of heaven you had ever heard of, and you were most certainly dead. Scowling now, you checked the ground to see if the water bottle had followed your apparent descent into hell. Sadly, it had not. You kicked a couple of rocks in lieu of the water bottle before setting your shoulders back. Wherever you were, you couldn’t just stand there. You took a deep breath, eyes flickering around once before steeling yourself.

     “Hello?!” Besides a slight echo, there was nothing to be heard over the wind. “Is anyone there?!” Cringing at how typical you sounded, you began to bite your lip. You’d apparently have to figure out where you were and what was going on by yourself. You had just begun to look around, searching for the tallest building when you heard something peculiar. Tilting your head slightly, you silenced your breathing, focused only on the sounds around you. Then you heard it again, a loud clicking noise akin to knocking two sticks together. Licking your lips, you turned around slowly, muscles tensed in preparation to flee. There, behind you, was what you were assuming was the largest cockroach known to God. It was at least half your height and in every bit as detailed as the normal roaches you had seen in your time on earth. In short, it was absolutely horrifying. You stumbled backwards, falling on your butt as you continued to stare in disbelief. The rest you had been willing to believe. But a giant cockroach!?

     For a moment, nothing happened. Then it took a tentative step towards you, antennae clicking and you were moving. Quite sure that you were leaving a literal trail of dust behind you, you ran, paying no attention to the direction in which you were headed. You didn’t care where you went as long as it wasn’t a dead end. Arms pumping, you ventured a glance over your shoulder. Releasing a scream, you turned back around, pushing yourself faster. There were now three roaches tailing you. You needed a plan!

     Eyes scanning the area in front of you quickly, you noticed what seemed to be a white film surrounding a building to your right. Gulping down bile, you immediately changed direction, hoping that the film was an indicator of another person. If not at least it wouldn’t be worse than being eaten by a pack of roaches. _Were they even Carnivorous?!_  You wouldn’t stick around long enough to find out. Lengthening your stride, you carried yourself closer to the building, noting with growing relief that there were lights around the building. Sure they were moving and flickering of what appeared to be their own will, but maybe it was just the wind. Your lungs were burning, and your legs were exhausted, so when you were close enough, you leaped past the white film.

     Your knees buckled as you landed back on the ground, causing you to reconnect with the damp ground once again. Rolling over you checked behind yourself, gasping loudly when you realized that the small horde of roaches that had been following you were skittering around a little ways from the white film. Filled with energy, you hopped back up, whooping loudly. Unable to resist the urge, you rocked back on your heels, pointing at them.

      “In yo’ face!” You slapped a knee before bending over in an attempt to catch your breath. Breathing first, Sponge-bob second. Righting yourself, you placed your arms on your head, taking a few well timed breathes before you turned back around. It actually looked a lot friendlier from up close, especially with the knowledge that you were safe from what could only be genetically modified roaches. What you had assumed to be lights, you now figured were wisps as they began to float closer to you.

     “Well, hello to you too!” One of the wisps in particular seemed to have taken a liking to you, floating a little too close to your face for comfort. “Can you tell me if anyone’s here?” The light bounced around before making a trip round your head. Racking your brain, you tried to remember all you could about wisps. _Didn’t they lead people away from safe paths?_  “I mean, it’s not like I can trust everything I read on the internet, right? Then again, there has to be a reason why the roaches didn’t come in here.” Eye’s moving hastily to the wisp that had taken to flying just next to your face, you frowned. “Can I trust you, dude?” The wisp merely bobbed around again before settling at your shoulder. “I like you. I’ll call you Ralts.”

     With that, you began your trip further into the protected area, skirting around the broken down building before hesitantly making your way in through a whole in the wall. A trail of wisps littered the hallway, looking more like paper lanterns than the sentient beings they were. You paused at that, mulling over the idea of wisps before continuing down the corridor. All you could hear were your footsteps until even they were muted. Looking down, you saw why. The odd stone floor you had been walking on was consumed by moss. Wisps, and an abandoned building, and moss. Could only be faeries.

     The moss was soft, spongy even. It felt wrong, somehow, to crush it beneath your shoes. Sighing, you took off your shoes and socks, placing them against the gently sloping wall of the hallway. Then you continued further, the moss tickling your bare feet. You continued on this way for several moments, dodging the suspended wisps until you noticed light spilling into the corridor from a doorway a little further ahead of you.

     You licked your lips before taking a steadying breath and walking towards it. For all your false bravado, you were still scared. So you slid up against the wall closest to the door, and peered into the room with just a movement of your head, releasing a deep breath once you realized that there was nothing inside.

     It seemed as though you had found the center of the building. You were in a large, circular area made up entirely of crumbling stone walls. A collapsed set of stairs led upwards to what you hoped was an empty platform. There was no ceiling, allowing you to look straight up into that strange green sky, and the ground was covered in dark moss. Several small patches of purple flowers grew randomly around the area, only increasing your belief in the involvement of faeries. Oddly enough, there were no wisps in the room to be found save for the newly dubbed Ralts.

     “I am so gonna die.” You walked to the center of the room and threw yourself down, avoiding the flowers. From that position, there was nothing to look at besides the sky, so you closed your eyes, imagining that there was an endless sea of blue above you, broken only by the occasional cloud. If not for the deathly silence, you could have almost believed that you were back home, relaxing after a run at the park.

     At the thought of home, you curled over on your side, wrapping your arms around your legs. Where were you anyway? Despite the wrongness of the situation, you still felt some semblance of familiarity. Even thinking about the green of the sky pulled lightly at a distant memory. You knew you would have to leave if you wanted to figure out where you were. Despite this, you didn’t want to leave the relative safety provided by whatever had created that white film around the area.

     The light passing through your eyelids dimmed, so you opened your eyes, curious to see what had managed to block your light. All you could manage to see against the sky was the hulking figure of what looked to be an enormous dog. You sat up just as it jumped off of the platform, landing about a foot from you. It cocked its head, narrowing the largest two of its six red eyes before sitting on the ground. The deep black of it’s fur clouded your vision before you blinked rapidly. You wanted to be afraid, but somehow an air of assurance flooded over you. This was only strengthened when Ralts floated over to it, drifting near the great beast’s head.

     “Uh... You’re the one who put up the barrier thing, right?” What were the chances that this thing understood you? When it didn’t respond verbally or otherwise, you eyes flitted away to the doorway for a second. “If so, thanks! It totally saved my butt back there, Ahaha...”  The laughter was forced, stilted, but there was still no response from the wolf. “Now, if you don’t mind...”, You stood, moving towards the door while facing the wolf the entire time. “I’m just going to leave.” You only managed to shuffle towards the door twice more before the wolf stood up, walking towards you. “Or not! I can just sit right back down if you want.”

     The creature continued to approach you until it was close enough to touch. Its pro-sternum landed roughly at eye level and you cringed. _Is everything here huge?_ You froze, shoulders around your ears until the wolf began sniffing at your hair. One short exhale from the beast and you were snorting, cupping your hands around your sensitive ears. It pulled back and looked at you with what you took to be a judgmental glance before sighing. Then it laid on the ground, looking up at you balefully. When you didn’t move, it nudged your feet, letting out another huff of air, before gesturing to it’s side with it’s head.

     “You-you want me to get on your back?” The wolf continued to stare at you evenly until you moved towards him. Apparently, you were taking to long because you were met with another sigh from the wolf. Rolling your eyes, you muttered, “Calm your tits, man”. Just because it had showed no signs of being able to understand you, didn’t mean that you were going to take any chances on upsetting it. When you had settled onto its back, hands firmly entrenched in the soft thick fur, it stood, momentum causing you to smash your face against its neck. The wolf smelled of rain and the sickly sweet scent of decaying flowers. After blinking several times in quick succession, you adjusted yourself, pressing your knees tighter to the creature’s sides. It took this as a sign to continue in its movements and leaped onto the platform it had previously been sitting on. Heart in your throat, you screamed, fingers digging more firmly into the fur on the creatures neck.

     “Can you avoid doing that again?” Your answer came in the form of another jump, this one taking you over the wall and to the ground on the other side. Because you were expecting it, you weren’t thrown around nearly as much as before. Barely a second after landing, the wolf took off. “Wait! My shoes!” The wolf paid no heed to your loss so you turned back to look at the building, tears coming to your eyes the further away you went. “Those were limited edition! And what about Ralts?” The wolf turned a corner and the building was gone.

     Sniffling, you turned around and allowed the wolf to take you where it willed. You sat upon his back like this for a time, growing bored of the seemingly endless array of broken down buildings. Interestingly enough, you saw no more of the white films. The great beast slowed down, and you slumped into the fur on its neck, exhaustion having finally caught up to you. As it continued at this much slower pace, you allowed your eyes to close despite not really wanting to. The pull of sleep was much too strong, and you soon found yourself swallowed by the dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     When you awoke, it was to the muted sound of the wind beating against a wall. Eyes opening immediately, you stilled. You were lying in an uncomfortable bed that you could only assume was not your own. Sucking in a deep breath, you rolled over and onto the floor, looking around with panicked eyes. The place was bare, holding nothing inside except the bed, a desk ,and a chair. Standing up you yanked the blanket from around your legs and dumped the itchy thing back on the bed, glancing around once more with narrowed eyes. You were quite certain that you hadn’t wrapped yourself in the cloth, so someone else had to have been responsible. Your standing position allowed you to see the book that rested on the desk.

     You creeped closer suddenly aware of your bare feet on the wooden floor. Placing a hand on the desk, you leaned over the book. _What the fuck?_  Whoever had coined the term chicken scratch had clearly seen such writing before. You, however, had not. _Is this even a language? It just looks like a bunch of random lines!_  You nodded your head, pursing your lips and heading towards the door. You didn’t have time for whatever was going on here. _Has to be some scare-tactics bull shit._

     Taking in a deep breath of air, you opened the door and looked around carefully. Not much of the scenery had changed. You were still surrounded by horribly drab and falling apart buildings, but you didn’t see a roach or white film in sight. Nodding again, you began to hum an upbeat song to contrast your dreary setting. Then you walked away, not bothering to shut the door behind you. If you kept walking, you’d eventually find your way out right? It was either that or you’d find a high place you could climb to discover your way out.

     As it turns out, that thought was incorrect. After walking around for an indeterminable amount of time, the only difference you managed to see was the gradual replacement of buildings and dirt road with dead trees and dry grass. You slapped your hands over your face and released an aggravated noise before looking around. You were hopelessly lost, and a quick glance at your phone allowed you to see that you had no signal. Frowning at the screen, you looked at the time. Only minutes had passed since you took the screen-shot. Rolling your eyes, you released another sound of discontent. Perhaps your fall had broken the device.

     Just as you put the phone back away, you felt more than heard a whisper of your name. Frowning, you whipped your head in the direction of the sound. There didn’t appear to be anything there, at least not as far as you could see, and yet you knew what you had heard. You paused, thinking for a moment before shrugging your shoulders and heading in that direction. You were already hopelessly lost. What harm could come from following strange voices in your head. That thought in your mind, you set off in the direction you had head the voice come from, praying to any and all deities that you weren’t walking into some sort of trap.

     You continued on this way at a leisurely pace, only speeding up when you began to see the tale-tale shape of a house in the distance. Jogging lightly, you soon found yourself in front of the house only to discover that it too was broken down and uninhabitable. Biting your lip, you looked around nervously. You had definitely heard the voice from this direction, and yet there was no one to be found. You turned back in the direction you came from, wondering if you had made a mistake. Then you heard it again, a call of your name, louder and coming from inside the house.

     “What the crap?” You hissed out, eyes narrowing in realization. There was no way you were going into the building to face whatever had summoned you. You would much rather prefer to deal with whatever it was in the relative safety of the outdoors. At least there you could run away. Wiping your sweaty hands along your thighs, you swallowed.  Then you clenched your teeth together, ignoring your fear and proceeding into the broken home.

     It, much like the last house you had been in, was nearly bare. Giant cobwebs covered what was left of a cot in the corner of the room. The ceiling lay crumbling into the dirt floor. Upon the realization that there was no one in the room, you continued further into the building, walking lightly so as not to disturb more than you had to. Holding your breath, you looked around the partition that separated the rooms.

     A single ray of light passed through a crack on what remained of the ceiling, falling on a sword. It was just about as tall as you were although the blade was thinner than you figured it would be. The cross guard was composed of a dragon’s outstretched wings, and the hilt appeared to be an elongated body and tail. The blade extended from around of the head of the dragon and, while you had to admit it was a little cool, you still couldn’t believe the absurdity of the situation that you had found yourself in. You heard your name being called again this time, a sigh more than anything else. You stared at the weapon for a moment, hands pressed together and resting lightly against your lips. Then you nodded your head and threw your arms into the air.

     “Alright, I’ve had just about enough of this. I don’t know who’s doing this but you got me! I’m scared, if that’s what you were after. So how’s about we have a nice chat about which one of my friends set me up?” You turned briskly on your heel and made to leave the house, muttering under your breath. "You can’t trust anyone anymo-” You froze once you faced the opening you had entered from.

     There, blocking the doorway, was another giant roach. Flexing your fingers, you backpedaled. Hopefully the sword was actually useful and not a worn down piece of crap like everything else you had seen thus far. You snatched it up, ignoring how right it felt in your hands, and began to debate on facing the roach head on. Sure you were terrified of bugs, but you didn’t really have a choice. You hadn’t seen any other exits while you were searching for the source of that mysterious voice.

     You closed your eyes and took a deep steadying breath before you ran out of the room, dragging the sword beside you. When you saw the roach you screamed, closing your eyes again and getting as close as you dared before swinging the sword around and cleaving it in half. The resistance you felt as you swung the sword through its body made you gag, but you were at least fortunate that no blood or other bodily fluids splashed against you. After a moment of silence, you opened one eye, realizing that the reason you hadn’t felt any disgusting splash-back was because the creature had begun to disintegrate. Rolling your eyes, you relaxed your shoulders and dropped the sword on the ground.

     “Is this some kind of crappy video game?” Sighing you allowed yourself to drop to the ground. “This is such bullshit. Where are the cameras at? You’d think I would have at least seen one by now. Especially given that there is hardly any scenery around.” You curled up into fetal position next to the sword, staring at its hilt before you sighed. “If I just lay here they’ll stop filming and come and get me so that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

     True to your word, You didn’t move from your position on the ground. You rested there for what felt like hours, the sky never changing to give you an idea of what time it was. All the while, you waited for some sign that the joke was over. Eventually, you felt a nudge at your back and you sat up excitedly.

     “I knew someone would come and get me if I waited!” Your smirk was wiped clean off of your face once you realized that it wasn’t a person that had touched you but rather, the large wolf from before. “Ugh! Maybe I got kidnapped and I’m drugged or something. Fuck this is confusing.” You glared at the wolf for a moment, already knowing that it would want you to get on its back. Groaning, you stood up and grabbed the sword. It had served you well once and there was no telling when you would see another of the giant roach creatures. “I’ll go with you but I’m bringing this too. I just hope I don’t go to sleep and drop it or something.”

     With that, you clambered onto the great wolf’s back, setting the sword on your lap and holding onto it’s fur. The wolf then took off running in a different direction than the one you had been going in. You traveled this way for an indeterminable amount of time, watching the background pass until your vision started to blur and your eyelids began to droop. Again you couldn’t resist the call of sleep, falling into the soft fur of the wolf’s neck and letting the darkness overtake you.

     When you opened your eyes, you again found yourself in a dilapidated house. Refusing to question anything, you stood up, glancing around the room and noting that this one too was bare with merely a couple of exceptions. Rolling your eyes, you grabbed the sword from where it lay next to your bed and left the building, not bothering to look at any of the scattered books that had been resting in a corner. Then you took off in a random direction in much the same way you had before.

     It became a pattern. The wolf would find you after a period of wandering around aimlessly killing roaches, and you would get on its back and allow it to take you were it pleased. You would fall asleep and wake up in another slightly less destroyed building and the cycle would start over again. You had no idea how long this continued. It could have been years or simply a matter of hours. Your phone didn’t’ show the time correctly, time occasionally moving backwards rather than forwards. But you didn’t eat or even hunger. You grew to be adept with the sword, scavenging a sheath for it out of one of the buildings you slept in. The longer you traveled, the less you could remember about yourself, your memories fading into the routine that you began to know so well. Your routine became who you were, and soon you forgot how you had even come to be in the world of endless green. The dying plains turned into a forest, and that into a beach front but still you traveled.

     It wasn’t until the beach front again turned into a forest that you began to feel something pulling at the edges of your mind, nearly propelling you in the direction in which the wolf was traveling. More time passed, but the forest only grew denser until finally, the land came to a end, and all that was before you was a giant green gash in the sky. Peering over the edge of the cliff you could see that there was nothing but darkness below. You pursed your lips in contemplation for several moments before you turned to your companion.

     “Alright I don’t know what you want me to do. We didn’t come all this way for nothing right?.” The wolf merely looked at you before turning to the hole in the sky. Then it stood from where it had been sitting and leaped towards the hole, disappearing before it could pass through. Eyebrows raising you whistled. “Yeah _that_  certainly left no room for question. I sure hope I don’t miscalculate this.” You backed up a few feet before running towards the gash in the sky. Once you were close to the edge of the cliff you closed your eyes and jumped.

     You felt nothing more than a shift in the air before you opened your eyes, aware that you were falling yet again. Less than a second after noticing this, you smacked face first into the ground. With the impact, your memories came flooding back and you scrambled to get up, eyes widening once you realized that there were more colors than green. You had no idea where you were, but at least you were out of the God-forsaken shadow realm. Putting your hands on your hips, you tilted your head up to look at the sky. The comforting shade of blue caused you to start laughing. _I really made it!_

     “Holy shit I can’t believe it! Maybe I really was drugged! Oh, I should probably hurry up and check my phone.” Ignoring your rapidly beating heart, you shoved your hands into the pockets of your jacket, searching for said device. It was only then that you heard a cough from behind you, causing you to immediately pull out the sword from your back and turn around.

     Before you stood a group of four… people? Two of them were tall, muscle bound beings with horns and differing shades of gray skin. The shorter of the two had a hand which was glowing green for some strange reason. The other two members of the party were a bald elf, and what looked to be a dwarf with entirely too much chest hair. You gripped your sword tightly in your hands, noting that none of them appeared to be on the defensive. A wave of familiarity hit you and your hands began to shake, the sword trembling in your grasp. You felt ill. Another silent moment passed before your vision began to darken around the edges. The ground rushed up to meet you, and soon enough, there was only darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just keep running and everything will be alright

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Shows up a month late with Starbucks* Depression sucks my dudes! 
> 
> I'm just going to go ahead and apologize in advance for the cliff hanger. If I didn't end it there it would have been to long of a chapter :( (Y'all are going to hate me lol) As always, let me know what you think and enjoy!

     Pain was the first thing that greeted you when you regained consciousness. Clenching your eyes shut, you groaned before taking stock of any injuries. Nothing hurt enough for you to consider anything to be broken. It simply seemed as though you had a lot of muscle aches. Well, that and you were ravenous. After moving a hand to your stomach, which seemed to be content eating itself, you sat up, noting that you were in what appeared to be a crude tent. Holding your breath, you crawled over to the opening and stuck your head outside.

     The group of people that had found(captured?) you sat around an empty fire pit. The tallest member of the party and the dwarf were sitting with their backs towards you, and you could see the elf over the dwarf’s head. You assumed that the fourth member of the group was beside him. __They have some banging costumes. Maybe I’m on the set of a movie? I guess they would explain why they look familiar.__ You allowed your eyes to slide past the group, looking for your sword. Upon seeing it leaning on a tent closer to fire pit, your eyes widened. __Guess it’s not a movie then.__ Switching your gaze between the group of people and your sword, you calculated your chances of grabbing it and running before they could get to you. Licking your lips you nodded. Success wasn’t very high but it was still worth a shot.

     You moved a little further out of the tent, eyes glued on the small band of people before you. Another moment, and your upper body was outside of the tent. Then, the elf’s eyes met yours and you paused, heart in your throat. Maintaining eye contact, you inhaled. Then you scrambled out of the tent and off of the ground into the forest.

     Stumbling over tree roots and ducking under branches , you looked for a path that would lead you out of the forest. Internally screaming at the realization there there was none, you continued on, leaping over a fallen, decaying tree trunk. You heard a sound akin to that of the wind beating harshly against an open car window, and suddenly, the elf was before you, a staff hanging loosely in one of his hands. You stopped running, feet sliding on the ground before your body completely stilled.

     “It would be wiser for you to stay with us. The forest is dangerous and you would be both without a weapon and lost if you continued on.” Ignoring the soothing timbre of his voice, you glared at him, taking in the sharpness of his gaze and his posture which hadn’t seemed to relax. You glanced behind you, noticing that the smaller horned being was approaching, ax in hand. Despite whatever magic trick he had pulled to get in front of you, you knew you would have a better chance against the bald man in a hand to hand fight. As if sensing your change in demeanor, he bowed his head slightly before twirling his staff around and attaching it to his back. “No harm shall come to you from us unless you attack first.”

     Logically, you knew you didn’t have much of a choice. The man was right about the forest being dangerous. With their group outnumbering you four to one, it wouldn’t be a good idea to fight them either. It would be better to stay with them, at least for now. You could run when you had some semblance of a plan to get home. Relaxing your hands out of their closed state, you nodded.

     “Damn Solas! You’re pretty fast for an old man.” Your attention was drawn back to the horned woman. She towered over you by at least a foot. Her black hair, which had be done into a mass of braids, parted around her curved horns, and was pulled into a ponytail high on her head, revealing slightly pointed ears. Aside from her left hand, still glowing that unnatural green, her skin was gray with brown undertones to it. Her almond shaped eyes were a striking hazel. Swallowing, you averted your eyes. Now wasn’t the time to show just how gay you were. She spoke again, causing you to nervously meet her eyes.

     “Hey, I know you’re scared but it’s alright. We’re going to take you to Haven and get you all fixed up. Then maybe you can tell me how you walked out of a rift, yeah?” You nodded your head again before clearing your throat.

     “Yeah. That’s, uh, fine with me.” The three of you began walking back to the campsite and you pulled at the hem of your jacket, wondering at its frayed, dusty state. It looked old and like it hadn’t been worn in years. A downwards glance told you that your leggings were in much the same state. It also revealed that your feet were bare. Pressing your toes into the ground you frowned. __I really did leave my shoes in that building.__ Blinking rapidly you raised your gaze. Now was not the time to get distracted. You needed a plan.

     “Can you guys tell me where we are? I’m a little confused on that front.” The elf was third wheeling behind you and, while it made you feel a little less like a prisoner, you were sure it was only so that he could have a better chance at catching you if you tried to run away. It was probably for this reason that the tall woman answered you, glancing in your direction for a moment before going back to dodging tree branches.

     “I guess staying in the fade really messed with your head. We’re in the Hinterlands. We aren’t that far in though, only about a couple days travel from Haven. We’ll have to walk back on foot. I haven’t managed to get us any horses yet.” You nodded your head even though you understood hardly any of what she said. Hopefully Google maps would be able to provide you with more info than the woman had.

     After a few more moments, you were able to see the campsite where you had woken up at. A wave of relief flooded through you as you realized that you would at least have another chance to steal your sword. You focused back on the two people who were still sitting by the fire, flinching when you realized that the largest member of the group was staring at you. __He has to know he looks intimidating with that eye patch. Why’s he still staring at me?!__ With a smile that was more a grimace that anything else, you lifted a hand slightly in greeting. The man lifted an eyebrow before turning back to the dwarf, murmuring something that you couldn’t hear. __Rude.__

     When you were closer to the fire the woman who had been leading you gestured for you to sit. You sat as far away from the horned man as possible, unable to resist shooting him a glare. Something was bubbling in a kettle over the fire, filling the air with the scent of food and you suddenly remembered your hunger. You wrapped your arms around your stomach, sending a prayer to any entity that was listening that your stomach wouldn’t growl. There was only the sounds of nature for a moment, then the dwarf spoke up, shooting a grin in your direction.

     “Since everyone else seems to have forgotten their manners, I guess I’ll introduce myself first.” He stood up before bowing with a flourish. “Varric Tethras at your service.” You began biting your lip before you looked him over. He was dressed oddly, much like everyone else in the party, with dated clothes and a necklace that could pass as a chain hanging just below his collar bones. He also had a… crossbow on his back. Before you could say anything The horned male spoke up, causing you to meet his eye warily.

     “I am The Iron Bull, but you can call me Bull.” You nodded your head once, noting with some relief that he didn’t sound like a bad person. If you could judge people by their voices, anyway. “So you’ve never seen a Qunari before? You keep staring at me and the boss like you don’t know what to think of us.” Eyes flickering back between him and the horned lady, you found yourself frowning. __What the fuck is a Qunari? Is he just making stuff up at this point?__  He didn’t look like he was joking but its not like you knew the man.

     “Yeah, I don’t even know what that is? It sounds familiar, but I’m pretty sure I would’ve remembered seeing someone like you before.” You looked towards the horned woman, eyebrows furrowed. “I actually have no idea whats going on right now.” She smiled at you before shooting The Iron Bull a glance you couldn’t really read.

     “She fell out of a fade rift. I couldn’t remember that much when I first fell out of one either. We should give her a little bit of time to get everything figured out at least.” Iron Bull shrugged his shoulders once before picking up a worn metal mug off of the ground beside him and taking a sip. “I am Rasiha. Greatly preferred over Herald of Andraste, if you would.” She rolled her eyes at the last part of her sentence before getting up to stir whatever was in the kettle. You didn’t really understand why anyone would call her Harold but you nodded regardless.

     “My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions.” You allowed yourself to look over, glancing warily at the bald elf with the voice made of sin. Narrowing your eyes at his ears, you frowned. __There’s no way somebody can do makeup that well. The man is bald. I should be able to see where the elf ears connect to his skin.__ Pursing your lips you leaned over a bit, trying to get a better view.

      “O.k. This might be a little rude, so I’m sorry. But I really need to just-”, You quickly traced one of his ears with your finger tips noting with increasing distress that it was warm and you could feel no distinction between his ear and the pointed tip. “It- It’s real?!” Your eyes met his for a moment, and you were staring into blue eyes with cat-like pupils. Heat flared across your face, and you tried to pull your arm back before one of his hands stopped you, gripping your wrist. You tried not to jolt at how cold his fingers were as he pushed your hand back towards your own head.  It was only when you felt the skin of your ear that you realized what he was trying to show you. Panic flared through your chest as you pulled out your phone to check your reflection. A simple tilt of the head revealed that your ears looked much the same as his did. “O…k?” You put your phone in your pocket and closed your eyes for a moment.

     “Is this a movie? Or Scare-Tactics maybe? I’ve seen too much T.V. to believe any of this. Who set me up? My parents? Because I swear I was gonna call them back. I just forgot.” Their faces only seemed to get more confused as you continued talking. “Seriously guys, I don’t believe any of this. I have to give your make up artists props though because you all look amazing.” At their continued silence you stood up, looking around the steadily darkening forest. “Can I leave now? I’ve got things to do and places to be. Y’know, all that jazz.” Rasiha was the first to speak, looking at you with a raised eyebrow.

     “What’s Teee Veee?” You threw your hands into the air before letting out an exasperated sigh.

     “I’m leaving. And I’m taking the sword with me because it’s cool.” You turned on your heel, ignoring Bull’s snort in favor of walking over to the sword. After slinging the weapon and its sheath onto your back you turned back to the group of people. “I don’t actually know how to get out of here, and I’m assuming there’s no cell phone service. So if you could just point me in the right direction.” At this Bull began outright laughing so you shot him a glare, intending to say something before Solas began talking.

      “There are no tricks here. I am not certain what happened in the fade, but this is the physical world, not an illusion.” With that he waved his hand, and blue fire appeared in his hand. __He really just tried to convince me this is real by showing me a magic trick.__ You frowned at him before turning away, determined to just find your own way out of the forest. “I do apologize.” A wave of dizziness hit you before you stumbled. __What the actual fuck?__ You tried to fight the sudden wave of exhaustion but soon darkness consumed you.

*****

     It was an argument that woke you up, causing you so still as you cracked open an eye to take in your surroundings. You were on a bed, more comfortable that the one’s you could remember being in during your stay in the fade. You also appeared to be in a house, and it was warm though you could see snow outside of a conveniently placed window. The area was sparsely decorated, with only a few books and some fruit from what you could see. There was also a chest in the corner. Sliding your eye back shut you focused more on the argument that was occurring a few feet away from you.

     “She should be moved to the prison for questioning. There is a chance she was involved in Divine Justinia’s death, not to mention she could very well be possessed!” __Ha! She sounds pissed.__

     “Cassandra I assure you she hasn’t been possessed. She remembers less that your Herald did. I doubt it would be of much use to question her until her memories have fully returned. I trust Rasiha informed you of her raving?” __The man with the silky voice speaks yet again. What’s his name? Soul?__ He made a thoughtful noise before you heard a floor board creak. “It would appear our guest has awoken.” __Shit that’s me!__ Only a couple of footsteps could be heard before you made your decision, rolling out of the bed before running and jumping out of the window.

     “After her!” The angry woman spoke again and it was all the conformation you needed before you started running, paying no mind to the fact that you had no idea where you were. People were milling about on the cobblestone path, some watching you with traces of confusion on their faces and some just ignoring you. You sprinted past what you thought to be a church and continued on down the path until you saw a pair of huge double doors. Wasting no time you bolted towards them, pushing past a group of people in your haste to get away. Thankfully, there were a pair of much smaller doors and you slammed the open, unprepared for the gust of wind that nearly knocked you back.

     There was a group of soldiers to your right, practicing with wooden swords and you gulped before heading towards your left. When you saw the giant horned man there, talking to a smaller man you bit you lip and sprinted through the soldiers, ignoring their startled exclamations. You ventured a glance behind you to see if they had let you escape. Less than a moment after you were content to let yourself slow down, you saw the bald man run through the doors in much the same way you had.

     “Shit shit shit!” You turned away and made for the frozen lake that lie ahead in your path. Maybe he would be to afraid too try and cross the ice. With out thinking twice, you ran onto the lake, sliding a bit until you found some snow you could run on top of. Then you picked up the pace again, determined to make it up the large hill in front of you. Maybe there you would be able to find an escape route. Ignoring the cold that was beginning to pierce your body you continued on, trudging up through the snow that met your calves. Another backwards glance, and you could see that the man had begun to cross the ice although at a much slower pace than you had. Resisting the urge to crawl through the snow like an animal you stifled a scream. You were loosing your distance because of the high snow.  You were nearly at the top of the hill though, so you pushed yourself harder, nearly hopping through the snow. Once you made it to the top of the hill you froze, taking in the sky.

     It was like nothing you had ever seen before. Even the small gash you jumped through to leave the fade looked nothing like what you saw in the sky before you. Rocks were suspended in the, and air green flashes of lightening struck down intermittently. There were occasionally even balls of fire thrown out of the primary scar. Suddenly your head was pounding. You staggered, putting a hand to your head though you didn’t take you eyes away from the breach. __The breach? The fade? Rifts?__ A blinding pain shot through your head and you screamed _ _,__  falling to your knees.The sky pulsed, sending a bright wave of green outward and suddenly you knew exactly where you were. A body roughly crashed into yours, sending you tumbling down the hill through the snow. When you stopped,  you looked up into dilated blue eyes.

     “Oh my God. I know you.” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you are a darn good liar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all this chapter freaking killed me. There's just so much dialogue. I didn't want to make a monster of a chapter, but here we are at 18 pages. :( Don't be afraid to tell me what you think. As always thanks and enjoy!

“Oh my God. I know you.”  The elf pulled you up, raising an eyebrow at your babbling. When he noticed, your shivering he brushed some of the snow off your clothes, which were different than the ones you had originally been wearing. You stopped him, grabbing onto his shoulders. “You’re Solas!” He paused, raising an eyebrow at you before taking a hold of your wrist and pulling you behind him. 

“Indeed.” Your eyebrow twitched at his tone and you sighed, glaring at his back.

“No, I mean! I really know you.” You stopped walking for a moment, causing Solas to turn back to you, confusion evident in the set of his eyebrows. Then you inhaled in a manner that was closer to a shriek than anything else, slapping your free hand to your face. “Bull thinks I’m racist!”

_ Wait I don’t have time to think about that now. What am I going to do?! I can’t explain how I got here, and if I tell them the things I know about them, Leliana will think I’m a spy.  _ You brought a fist up to your face and pressed it lightly against your lips. Ignoring the nausea that you were beginning to feel bubbling up in your stomach, you glanced to the side and focused on the snow.  _ I mean, I guess I could try and blackmail Solas. But he could kill me! What am I supposed to do?! _

_ “ _ Are you feeling alright? You look quite ill.” Startled out of your thoughts, you looked up at Solas. Maybe you could get him to help you somehow? He had a way of tricking people into believing his bullshit all the time. Inhaling deeply, you prepared yourself.

“You- you helped me, right? When I was trapped in the fade, I mean.” You paused, looking up at him through your eyelashes to take in his expression which had gone curiously blank. “You’re the wolf that helped me get out. I’m not sure how you did it but thank you.” Silence fell over the two of you and Solas stood stock still after releasing his hold on your wrist. A strong gust of wind reminded you of the cold and you crossed your arms in front of you, pulling them in close to retain what little warmth you could. He watched the movement with narrowed eyes before he looked back at your face, pale blue gaze clashing with your own.

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”  _ Bullshit!  _ Resisting the urge to call him out, shifted your weight to your right foot.  _ Two can play at this game asshole. _

“I don’t remember much of my time before entering the fade, but I remember enough about you and the company you keep. Call them visions or whatever you like, but I have knowledge of events soon to come. I would like to help, but I know what happens to elves who go about blindly trusting humans.” His head was tilted slightly now, eyes calm though a frown marred his face. You really had no way of knowing if he took the bait or not. Narrowing your eyes, you turned to look back at the Breach. It was time to go for what you hoped would be the metaphorical kill. “Though I don’t know its significance, I have seen the orb you’re looking for. When you do manage to get a hold of it, it will have been shattered. Perhaps together we could change the course of fate and avoid this outcome.” You turned back around, meeting his eyes once again. “But I can only do that if I don’t get thrown in jail because I’m thought to be a spy.”

_ “ _ You know of the orb but not what it does?” You nodded once and he raised a hand to his face, using it to cradle his chin. He seemed to think it over for a moment, during which time you began to jog in place. Another moment passed and he hummed to himself before looking back at you, eyes flashing and aura darkening. “Very well. I shall help you avoid suspicion. But make no mistake”, He paused and took a step closer to you, making you suddenly very aware of just how powerful he actually was. “I do not trust you. I will be watching, and if I determine anything to be amiss…” He trailed off and you swallowed.

“I understand.” He turned around and began walking back in the direction of Haven, giving you enough time to let out a breath you didn’t know you had been holding. Given his intelligence, it probably wasn’t the best that you were on his watch list, but that was infinitely better than wasting away in a dark prison cell underneath a building you knew was soon to be destroyed. Fighting the urge to shiver, you trotted behind him, trying to keep up with his stride.

“You don’t have the vallaslin of your people. Are you not Dalish?” For a moment you were too distracted to reply, attempting to follow in his footsteps to avoid the worst of the snow.

“Um, it’s possible? I don’t think I grew up in a city, anyway. I really don’t remember much of my life before the fade.” How many times could you use that line before someone got suspicious?

“I assume you are capable of following my lead? I will speak first when we meet with the spymaster.” The two of you were making your way back across the ice and to a very disgruntled Cassandra when he spoke again, not looking back at you. “What is your name?”

“Oh! Right, I’m (Y/N).” While it wasn’t a typical elvish name, it was going to have to do because you weren’t going to ruin all of your hard work by failing to answer when called. The rest of the walk towards the seeker was silent, and you couldn’t help but flinch when she rested her stern gaze on you.

“She wouldn’t have been able to run if she had been locked away like I suggested. What took you so long? Surely she didn’t get that far away.” You didn’t listen to his answer, too busy trying to ignore the slight pang of hurt that came when you realized that one of your favorite video game characters thought you were an enemy. While you completely understood her reasoning, it hurt all the same.  _ I guess it would probably do me some good to stop referring to them as video game characters too, since they’re all apparently real. That’s going to make the whole friendship thing really awkward. “ _ I’ve gathered both the Herald and her remaining advisers. They should be waiting for us in the war room now. I suppose you can come if you want, but there is really no need.” You couldn’t resist waving at the Iron Bull and Krem now that you recognized who they were. Krem waved back and the Iron bull Simply nodded, a raised eyebrow the only thing letting you know of his confusion.

"Though Rasiha is a Qunari, all of her advisers are human. Is it not understandable that our guest would wish to have anther elf accompany her?” Cassandra made a thoughtful noise before walking back into the doors of Haven. Relief from the wind was almost immediate and you couldn’t help but to release a sigh. Then you began looking around, noting with wonder that the small town was bigger than it looked in-game. Your small smile was quickly wiped away when you became aware of the stares your trio was receiving, likely because of your failed get away attempt. Slouching to make yourself smaller, you focused on looking at the ground until you were inside of the chantry building.

Though the building was made simply of stone, it was considerably warmer than it was outside. Torches were suspended from every pillar framing the middle of the room, lit candles haphazardly spread beneath them even as smoke rose to the ceiling, giving the room a hazy, almost dream-like atmosphere. You were unsure if the heat was from the sheer amount of fire in the room or runes hidden throughout the building. __ Deciding not to question it, you walked a little faster to keep from falling behind Cassandra and Solas. She turned to you, probably just to make sure that you weren’t trying to run again, before she spoke.

“We’re almost there. It’s just a little bit further.” Looking past her and to the war room, you nodded. Your fate was pretty much in Solas’ hands. You glanced at him, becoming only slightly irked when you took in his relaxed posture. Then you lifted your head and took a deep breath. You could panic after the meeting was done. Cassandra opened the door to the war room and ushered the two of you inside. Them she moved to stand on the left side of the table near the Inquisitor. The remaining advisers were on the side of the table opposite to the door, looking at you with varying expressions though you couldn’t do much but stare at Leliana’s. Her eyes were sharp, face set into a stern mask, and her expression didn’t falter when she gestured to a seat in front of you.

“Please sit. We have much to discuss.” You inhaled deeply when her eyes slid away from you and fixed onto Solas. “I was unaware you would be joining us. Is there something you need?” You pulled out the seat in front of you out and sat down, wiping your palms on the front of your legs before looking down at the map spread across the table. It was curiously devoid of all of the markers that usually rested upon it.  _ Guess I won’t be using those to tell where I am in the game. _  You ventured a glance up, towards Leliana and stopped when you noticed her eyes were once again focused on you. Suddenly you felt a hand on your shoulder, and you looked up to see Solas standing beside you.

“I am simply a reference of sorts.” He paused here, shooting a glance towards you before speaking again. “Several years ago during my travels, I came upon a Dalish clan that claimed to have a seer amongst them. We discovered the remains of the very same camp near a fade rift in the Hinterlands, as I’m sure you can recall Rasiha. Imagine my surprise when the seer, who was merely a child when I encountered her, fell out of a fade rift in front of our group only days after. I didn’t believe it was her. I had no reason to. But when I followed after her, to bring her back for questioning, she recognized me, confirming my suspicions Despite this, she never told me what she was originally in the rift for.” Leliana pursed her lips, eyes narrowed, as she glanced between you and Solas. Fortunately, it wasn’t her who spoke next, Josephine choosing that exact moment to speak, excitement barely contained in her voice.

“You’re a seer? And pardon me for asking but are you not old enough to receive the vallaslin? I thought the Dalish usually preformed the rite around 18 years of age.” She shifted her clipboard in her hands before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, still looking at you expectantly.  _ Everyone is so much more attractive than they were in-game. Why?! _

“I’m afraid of needles!” You all but shouted, siting up straighter in your seat. Cullen made a poor attempt at coughing to hide a chuckle before he spoke, shifting on his feet.

“A Dalish elf afraid of needles? Is there a joke somewhere in there?”

“Regardless,” Leliana began, “I would like to know more about your being a seer and how you came to find yourself in the fade.” Solas’ hand was still on your shoulder, reminding you that at least one person was still on your side. So you nodded and began to fabricate another lie.

“They come to me in my sleep. The visions, I mean. I don’t have any control over the content or how often they come. Perhaps if I had, I would have foreseen the death of my clan,” You paused here and looked back down towards the table. “I was supposed to be doing a routine perimeter check, but I found a litter of fennec playing and I stopped to watch over them while the mother was away. By the time I returned to my camp, it was too late. I thought perhaps the demons returned to the rift so I jumped into it as some misguided attempt for revenge. Then I wandered through the fade, killing all the demons I could until I found another rift and jumped back out. Maybe it was fate. Most of my visions as of late have featured your inquisition, and here I am. I will stay, if you’ll have me, and give you warnings when I can.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Rasiha was the first to move, coming towards you with sorrow in her eyes. “I can’t imagine how difficult this has been for you.” A pang of guilt hit you before you looked away. “We would very much like to have you as a member of our group. A seer could be a very powerful ally. Do you have any information that you could tell us right now?” Twisting your lips, you thought for a moment. Then you nodded.

“I don’t know how many companions you have yet, but I know they aren’t all here. Unless you denied them, you should have Vivienne and Sera. I’ve already seen Bull, Solas, Varric, and Cassandra. I believe you’re going to meet Blackwall soon. The last two you probably wont see for a while. Their names are Cole and Dorian, but I can’t tell you more than that about them. Also, you should avoid the rift by the waterfall when you go to get the farmer’s druffalo. If you have a map of the Hinterlands, I can show you where it is, but that should be the last rift you seal there unless you want to die.” At her look of alarm you back pedaled, holding your hands up in a sign of surrender. “I-If you’re going to go at least take a bunch of health potions and a healer. I don’t advise it though. It’s really risky.” Rasiha nodded before shooting you a soft smile.

“You can go ahead and explore Haven for a bit. I’ll send someone to fetch you when I’m done here.” A shaky thumbs up was all she received in answer before you left your seat and stiffly walked outside the war room. It was only when the door had shut completely that you allowed yourself to relax, bending over and putting your hands on your knees.

_ She knows! There’s no way Leliana doesn’t know. The Inquisitor might believe me for now, but I’m sure its only a matter time until that changes. Like, how convenient is it that the whole camp is dead?!!! I guess he didn’t really have a choice. There wouldn’t be any records of me anywhere else but still!  _ You sat up, pressing a hand to your forehead before exhaling loudly.  _ Everything is totally fine. I’ve just got to take this one step at a time.  _ Once you became aware of where you were, you looked around nervously, happy to see that most of the people in the chantry were otherwise occupied. Only Mother Giselle seemed to have noticed your momentary panic. Pursing your lips, you made a beeline to the chantry doors before she could attempt to talk to you. Any conversation with her was one you were all too happy to avoid.

Once outside, you took a deep breath and looked around, putting your hands on your hips. You weren’t exactly sure what you were supposed to do while you waited for the Inquisitor’s messenger, but you were sure you could make do somehow.  _ I wonder if the Apothecary found the notes for that potion yet. _ _ I guess I can check and see if they’re still in that cabin. It’s not too far away.  _ Nodding your head you made up your mind. You walked down the path and towards the front gates, careful to avoid eye contact with anyone on your way. You had almost made it out the door when a sudden shout caught your attention.

“Hey! Elf, what do you think you’re doing?” You paused for a moment, looking around to confirm that you were indeed the only elf in the area before you looked towards the owner of voice. You twisted your lips into an grimace once you recognized the owner of the small shop next to the entrance. Without faltering in your steps, you made your way out of the gate as though you hadn’t heard the man. Then you immediately began jogging in the direction of the hidden cabin. Once you made it past the dark green tents that housed the few templars that had stayed in Haven, you slowed your pace and checked to make sure that the man hadn’t followed you.

You were unable to hold back a small smirk at the fact that he hadn’t chased after you. Then you attempted to put your hands in your pockets, only to remember that you were no longer wearing your jacket. You were wearing tan clothes that looked identical to the ones that had originally been given the Inquisitor. _  These aren’t nearly as warm as I thought they would be. I guess I should just be happy that they’re not itchy, and at least they gave me boots. _  The bottoms of the boots were hard and the cold was starting to creep into your feet from the lack of proper insulation. On top of that, they felt a few sizes too large, but that was technically better than nothing so you wouldn’t complain. For now.

The soft crunching of your boots pressing into the snow was almost therapeutic, and you found yourself humming lightly until the cabin came in sight. You started to move a bit faster, the thought of four walls sheltering you from the biting wind all the encouragement you needed. There was no smoke coming from the chimney, and the sconce-like fixtures that hung on either side of the door were curiously devoid of fire, despite having been lit in the game. You suddenly wished you had brought your sword with you. After stomping your feet against the ground to shake off the snow that still clung to your legs, you pushed the door open.

The inside of the house was completely dark save the small bit of light streaming in from the doorway. Fighting back a grimace, you tip-toed into the building. You could just make out the empty fire pit that was normally used to heat the room. Still walking cautiously, you made your way to it, putting out an arm to feel for the wall once you were close enough. Thankfully, the wood was smooth, so you used it to find your way into the next room. Once you were there, you outstretched your other arm, wanting to feel the desk you knew was in the room before you ran into it. You continued on this way, walking forward until your fingers lightly brushed against parchment.

“Aha! Guess she didn’t do this yet.” You swept your hands across the desk, gathering the papers into a pile before you lifted them up and tapped them onto the table. Then you made your way back outside the building. After closing the door, you looked at the papers, frowning at the strange symbols. They looked like runes you had seen on Earth before, but you couldn’t be certain. “So common tongue is English except for when it’s not. Got it.” After pushing aside your bitterness, you began to make your way back to Haven.

When you were back within the gates of the small town, you brushed past Seggrit’s small shop with nothing more than a glare in his direction. Varric wasn’t in his usual spot by the fire pit, and you felt a peculiar sense of discontent at the fact that you might actually have to go looking for people when you needed them. Releasing a sigh at the thought, you continued on your way, walking up the hill and past the tavern. You rushed past Solas’ house and a couple of people who appeared to be playing in the snow before tentatively knocking on the door of the Apothecary.

“Come on in. Its unlocked.” You pushed the door open, closing it softly once you were inside. The house was considerably more cluttered than Solas’ had been, scrolls and baskets lying randomly on the ground. The shelves and desks were covered in a mess of bottles, candles, and odd looking tools. Most would say it was messy, but you thought it simply looked lived in. The man- _ what was his name again- _  was standing with his back to you, a hand running over his head as he looked at something on the desk before him. “Don’t just stand there. Get on with it.” He turned around to face you and the corner of your lip twitched, a habitual smile coming to rest upon your face.

“Uh, yes. You’re Aden, right? The Inq- I mean, Rasiha, wanted me to give you these. Said she found them in a cabin outside of Haven.” You handed him the small stack of papers, watching as his eyes rapidly flicked over the pages.

“The names Adan. These are-,” he paused for a moment, a smile flickering over his face before he looked back at you. “Ha! The old codger was on the edge of a breakthrough here, and he didn’t even know it. You tell her if she needs any of these mixed up just give the word.” You nodded your head taking a couple of steps backwards towards the door.

“Be seeing you then.” With that you made your way back outside and into the cold. “They really need to make coats a part of their uniform. This is ridiculous”, you muttered under your breath. You looked over the area in front of you, pausing only when your eyes met the breach.  _ Part of me still believes this is just some weird ass dream. Maybe I’m actually in a coma. _  Snorting at that thought, you crossed your arms in front of your body and began to head towards the tavern. You didn’t have any money, but at least it would be warm. Plus you could probably pick up some good information while you were there. You were just heading down the stairs when you heard a call of your name. After turning to look behind you, you found Rasiha jogging towards you.

“I’m surprised you’re not already at the tavern. That’s were most new recruits go.” You could only give her a wry smile as you looked up at her.

“That’s exactly where I was headed actually.” She huffed a laugh before tilting her head back to the chantry.

“You said you could mark some locations on our map. Lets do that and get you settled in before hand, yeah?” You nodded but she was already headed back towards the chantry. You trailed after her, staring at the ground.

“Before I forget, I gave Adan the notes he was looking for. So he can upgrade your potions for you.”

“Really! Where did you find them? I looked in all of the chantry rooms and the cabin they gave me and I couldn’t find them anywhere.” She held the chantry door open for you so you made your way under her arm before continuing towards the war room.

“They were in his house. The cabin that's close to the woods, I mean.” You pushed the door open, releasing a sigh once you saw that it was empty. A map of Haven had been stretched open, and it was with a great feeling of relief that you saw a majority of the left half of the map had already been filled out.. You pulled the quill pen out of its ink well carefully, making sure not to ruin the map with extra ink before you placed a small x on the map, shooting a glance at Rasiha.

“These might not be precise, but they are all going to be extremely close. This spot over here is where a den of wolves is. They've been bothering the people of Redcliffe Farms. You can either kill all of the wolves or kill the lesser terror that’s controlling their pack. Be careful when you leave though because if you travel down this way, you’ll run into the fade rift I told you to avoid.” You moved across the map, checking off two more places. “I’m not sure if you’ve stopped the mages or the templars yet, but these are their camps respectively. It’ll be easier to travel through the area once you’ve stopped them.” You pursed your lips before marking something near the bottom of the map. “This here is the grand forest villa. I wasn’t going to tell you, but I suppose I better so you don’t stumble upon it by accident. It’s currently being occupied by a bunch of mercenaries. One of them has a letter that will lead you back to their base. I think that should be it. Wait, no. There’s actually a dragon down past this camp here.” You placed the quill back into the ink well and glared at the map for a moment. Then you nodded your head.

“Yeah that should be it. Everything else is just minor stuff you should be able to find on your own I think. Or stuff that just hasn’t been revealed to me .” You placed a hand on your hip, looking down at the map proudly.

“Does it mater who I take with me? I’ve been bringing all of my companions and switching them out depending on the assignment, but if there’s a better solution and some of them can stay here to rest, I would prefer that.” You fought back a grimace as you thought it over.

“The way you’ve been doing things will probably be fine. As long as everyone fights well, you can successfully complete any mission with three other people regardless of who they are.” She nodded before standing up straight and placing her arms behind her back.

“The others should be here soon. I know you’ve already met them, but they should be informed that you will be traveling with us. The rest of my companions are still in the Hinterlands. You’ll meet them when we return to camp.”

“Wait, what? I’m going with you?” Rasiha shot you a confused smile before heading towards the door.

“Of course you are. If you happen to see another vision that deals with the inquisition it would be better to have you with us. You’ll find that it’s much quicker than sending word by raven. We wont be leaving until tomorrow if that's what you’re worried about. That’s plenty of time for a trip to the tavern.” She began laughing even as your heart rate increased.

“I- I, um. Well that is- I’m not a very good fighter. I haven’t so much as spared with another person before. Besides that, I’m never in these visions. I don’t know if my being there will change it somehow. I’m sure I’d be a bother more than anything else.” Rasiha had paused in her movements, standing by the door with one hand on her hip.

“It’ll be fine. If you’re as bad with your sword as you claim to be, Cassandra can teach you how to use it. And you can always stay at the camp. You don’t have to go everywhere with us. It would just be better to have you there at camp rather than all the way here in Haven.” Taking a breath, you nodded.

“I understand.” You would just have to be wary of all of the eyes that were sure to be on you. Perhaps it could work in your favor though. After all, you would be awfully far from the watchful gaze of Leliana. Nodding your head again, this time more to yourself than anything, you turned your body to face the door. “I suppose I was just being overly cautious.” You shot her a smile and she tilted her head to you in a sign of acknowledgment before opening the door, and letting the other companions in. Cassandra was the first person to enter the room, followed by Bull, Varric, and finally Solas. The Inquisitor then moved to stand by your side, gesturing to you with an arm.

“This is (Y/N). She will be joining the inquisition as our seer.” You allowed a thin smile to graze your face as you met all of the companion’s eyes. “Already, she has provided me with useful information for our upcoming trip into the Hinterlands.” She looked at you, providing you with a moment to speak for yourself.

“I might have said some strange things when I first met you all, but things are more or less how they should be now. I look forward to saving the world with you.” You looked back to Rasiha and she nodded, before turning back to the group.

“We will leave for the Hinterlands tomorrow morning. I’d like for the three of you to stay here and I shall explain the new additions on our map. As for you,” Rasiha turned to you, placing a hand on your shoulder. “For tonight, you will be staying in the room closest to the chantry doors on your left. All of your items and your clothes are in there. Is there anything else you need?” Pursing your lips you though quickly, looking at the space between her horns. 

“Could I have something to write with and some paper? I feel it would be a good idea for me to record my visions.”

“That certainly seems simple enough. I shall bring them to your room once we are finished here then. You may take your leave.” Nodding excitedly you paused to give a short wave to everyone before you left the war room, closing the door soundly behind you. Then you went to your room, heaving out a sigh of relief when you found all of your things lying on the bed as promised. You rifled through them, wrinkling your nose at the state of your clothes before you found your phone. You pressed the device to your chest for a short moment, before you attempted to turn it on. After a minute in which nothing occurred, you were forced to accept that the battery had died.

“Nothing to be done about it now. I’m sure I’ll be able to figure something out later. Nodding to yourself you sat the phone down. Then you grabbed the sleeve of your old jacket, using your teeth to rip off the part that covered your wrist. Unzipping your boot, you used the scrap of fabric to tie your phone to the inside of your calf. Then you zipped the boot back up. It wasn’t comfortable, but it would insure that your phone wouldn’t get lost and minimize the chances of the screen cracking. You stuffed your headphones into the pocket of your jacket and refolded your clothes, setting them down on the small table that sat beside the bed. Then you picked up the sword, wondering at the feeling of relief you felt at having it in your possession once again. After attaching the sword sheath to your person, you stood up and looked out of the small window and into the world.

You had no idea what time it was, the cloud cover preventing you from making out where in the sky the sun was. You could only assume you had about half a day left, perhaps more if depending upon when exactly you had woken up. Placing a hand on your stomach, you suddenly became aware of how hungry you actually were. Though the excitement and adrenalin had kept you from feeling hungry, it was quickly wearing off. It felt as though it had been days since you had eaten. Shrugging off the thought, you returned to looking out of the window, only stopping when you heard a knock on the door. You turned just in time to see the Inquisitor open the door, a small notebook and a quill and ink well in her hands.

“I know its not much, but I figured you would need a notebook rather than loose papers. Visions are important stuff, yeah? Unfortunately, this was the only one I could find. As you can imagine, we’re short on nearly everything.” She held up a small leather bound notebook that had clearly seen better days. It’s water stained pages suggested that it had been found in the dungeon, and as you flipped through it you discovered the first few pages had actually been used. Despite this, you found yourself smiling.

“No, it’s perfect. Thank you so much.” She placed the quill and well onto the table before turning to leave. “I actually have one more question. Are there specific meal times around here? I really don’t want to miss it if so.” She gave you a crooked smile at this..

“I bet you’re ravenous. All you’ve had to eat since Solas knocked you out is some broth. Can’t imagine its all that filling. Trust me when I say you’ll be the first to know when dinner is. Either the smell of the noise is going to drift right in from that window. Shouldn’t be much longer now though. A few hours at most, I’d say.” You nodded, clutching the notebook in your hands.

“Alrighty then. Thanks again.” Once she left, you sat down at the desk, and carefully leafed through the book, attempting to separate the pages that had dried together. After that was done, you hunkered down and began to write all that you could remember about the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition in chronological order. Hours passed, and before you knew it the light had begun to fade and the smell of warm food drifted in your room. Swallowing down the saliva that had begun to collect in your mouth, you sat down the quill. Deciding to let the pages dry and give you time to collect your thoughts, you left the room, wandering out of the chantry and joining the line to get food.

Most of the people there were to busy conversing to have noticed you, but those that met your eye generally gave you a smile or a nod in greeting. The dinner was some form of thick soup and a hunk of bread. The stew was brown and had a hearty smell although you couldn’t specifically make out even a single ingredient that had been used in it. After thanking the people who had given you the food, you made your way over to the tavern. It was as good a time as any to hear gossip.

Carefully balancing your bowl in your hands, you made your way down the path and to the tavern. A wave of heat hit you as soon as you opened the door, followed soon after by the sent of beer. Maryden was playing something although you couldn’t really hear her over the sound of the crowd. You hadn’t been the only one to take your meal there. You sat down at the edge of a table packed full of soldiers, waving at them as they attempted to make more room for you. Then you began to eat your meal in silence, listening to the conversations around you.

“The Herald of Andraste a Qunari. Never thought I’d see the day.”

“You hear she managed to get an entire cult on our side?”

“Ya think she's gonna choose the mages or the templars?”

You were unable to stifle a groan once you realized that none of the information was useful. Scarfing down the rest of your meal, you used your last piece of bread to wipe the bowl clean before shoving it in your mouth. Then you returned the bowl to the owner of the tavern and made your way back out into the night. The breach was even more disconcerting in the night sky, and you found yourself shivering as you looked at it. Then you shook your head to clear it of the negative thoughts, wrapping your arms around you and heading up the steps and towards the chantry. You faltered in your steps once your eyes drifted over Solas’ form. He was staring up at the breach, a frown marring his features.  _ Feeling guilty there, buddy?  _ As if he sensed you staring, he looked down at you. You held eye contact until you finished climbing the steps, only looking away when he tilted his head in your direction.

“You appear to be a remarkable liar. I was quite surprised. I find myself curious as to what other secrets you hide.” You were taken aback at his words, a hand coming to rest on your sternum unthinkingly.  _ God damn! Did you really have to call me out like that?! _

“Well I’m not the only decent liar here. I could say the same about you.” The two of you maintained eye contact for a moment before you pressed your lips together and nodded. “Solas.” Then you turned on your heel, making your way back to the chantry at a leisurely pace like your heart wasn’t attempting to jump out of your chest.

Once you were back in your room you released a heavy sigh, taking off your sword. You placed it on top of the desk alongside the book before peeling off your clothes and boots. Then you untied your phone from your leg and left it inside of the boot. Crawling under the covers you looked out of the window with a sigh. All of this trouble and your journey was only just beginning. It was with a heavy mind and a full stomach that you fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, this was edited at nearly 2 in the morning. If you see any glaring errors please let me know and I will fix them. Peace!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you discover that you are not dreaming, no matter how much you wish you were.  
> This chapter took me an embarrassingly long time to write, but what can I say? I struggle with dialogue lol. Also this chapter was not beta read. I edited it myself numerous times, but if you see any glaring errors, let me know and I will fix them. As always, tell me what you think and enjoy!

A stray beam of light fell into the room from the window, landing conveniently on your closed eyelids. Groaning, you rolled over, opening your eyes and glaring at the wooden door before you. Excited shouts drifted into your room, and you released a sigh once you realized that probably meant breakfast was being served. You redressed in the clothes you had been wearing the day before, making sure to secure your phone against your calf once again. Then you put on the boots, wiggling your toes around in all of the extra space. You’d have to do something about that later. You placed your hands on your hips, staring at the unmade bed before you. Felling heat creep down your neck, you had a sudden revelation.

“I really have to pee.” You shifted your weight anxiously from foot to foot before you made up your mind, rushing out of the door and barely remembering to close it behind you. You didn’t have to walk long before you met another person, although you did feel bad for interrupting the chantry woman’s prayers. “Excuse me. Where are your restrooms?”

“What?” The woman shot you a look of confusion before looking you up and down. “I don’t know what that is.” You shifted your weight to the balls of your feet, mentally rephrasing your question.

“The bathroom?” Another blank look was gifted to you and you found your lower lip wobbling, a frown coming to rest on your face. “Port-a-potties? The outhouse?!” Recognition flooded her eyes and she gave you a curt nod.

“Right. They’re behind the chantry. Go on ‘round and you’ll see ‘em.” Dread filled you, but you forced yourself to smile regardless.

“Thanks.” You exited the chantry and walked towards the back of the building, giving a twitching smile to anyone that glanced at you. The closer you got to the back of the building the more nervous you became. You found yourself muttering under your breath as you walked, clasping your hands together nervously. “This is fucking terrible. Outhouses? It’s going to be so unsanitary.” You felt tears coming to your eyes at the thought. “You got this, (Y/N). Just do it and get it over with.” Biting your lip harshly, you stuck your head around the corner of the building, taking in the line of outhouses with a grimace. Some of them appeared newer than others and you latched onto that small mercy. Breathing through your mouth, you took a few tentative steps towards one of the newer shacks, flinching when a man opened one of the doors.

“Might not want to go in that one for a while, girlie,” With that he winked at you and walked back towards the front of the building. Whimpering, you rushed into a different stall, avoiding looking at any one thing for too long. From your hurried glances, you were able to make out a stack of what looked to be toilet paper and a crude bar of soap sitting next to a bucket of water. Closing your eyes you rushed to do your business.

“Fuck this shit! I need plumbing.” Your frown deepened once you felt how hard the paper was. “Yeah this isn’t happening. I gotta get out of here.” You went to wash your hands, looking at the tub of water with barely concealed disgust. If you looked hard enough, you could actually see a film of something on the surface of the water. Letting out a disgusted sound, you snatched the bar of soap up and walked outside. You fought back tears as you stuck your hands in the cold snow before using the melted water and the bar of soap to clean your hands. Leaving the bar of soap in the snow, you made your way back to your room. You grabbed an apple off of the table from in front of the chantry, wiping it on your shirt before taking a bite into it.

Once you were back in your room, you sat out your remaining items on the bed. It wasn’t much. Zipping up the jacket, you attempted to make a satchel with it. You flipped the article of clothing upside down and wrapped the notebook you had been given into the frayed leggings you had been wearing when you fell into the fade. Then you pushed it close to the neck of the jacket, using it to make the bottom of your makeshift bag. After that, you pulled your headphones out of the pocket and tossed them in as well. You nestled the ink well into a corner, and followed this by setting the quill on top of the book. Smiling at your handiwork, you tied the bottom of the jacket together and folded it in on itself. Then you tied the sleeves together around your waist, laughing when it held up. It wouldn’t last for long, but it would probably hold together until you either woke up or could afford another bag.  
You slung the sword onto your back and looked out of the window and towards what little of the breach you could see. You finished off the apple in your hand with narrowed eyes before tossing the core outside. If you had managed to fall into Thedas because of a rift, you could probably return home the same way. You just had to avoid suspicion until you could get yourself back into the fade. You rested your head on an upturned palm as you continued to look out the window, thinking about the wonders of plumbing. A heavy set of knocks on your door caused you to jump. You rushed to open it, head craning upwards as you realized it was The Iron Bull.

“Fuck, you’re tall.” He smirked at you, visible eye crinkling in mirth before you scrambled to cover for yourself. “Uh, what’s going on? Did you need me for something?” He ducked out of the doorway and you followed after him, shutting the door behind you.

“Boss says it’s time to go, but you’re not headed out like that, right? Not exactly smart to go walking around in a war zone with no armor on.” You pursed your lips before trailing your eyes over his armor or lack thereof. 

“You don’t even have a shirt on. Don’t go lecturing me about armor.” He laughed loudly, clapping you on the back with a heavy hand and making you wince. Then he made his way outside, heading towards the gates of Haven.

“True, but my skin is a hell of a lot thicker than yours. I think I’m gonna like you kid. Let’s go see if Harritt has anything you can wear.” You hummed before trailing after him, wondering at the lack of people milling about the pathway. It was only once you had left the gates of the town that you could see why. Nearly everyone was gathered near the tents where Cullen’s troops usually trained, hovering around Rasiha and her party of three. You cracked your knuckles, hoping you hadn’t made them late even as Bull steered you away from the group and towards the blacksmith’s shop.   
“I’m going to be honest with you here. I don’t trust you.” You flinched at his calm tone, looking towards him only to find that he was already grinning down at you. “Ben-Hassrath training.” You lifted your eyebrows, feigning understanding even as you began internally screaming. Fucking hell! How’d I forget about that?! Leliana, Solas, and the fucking Iron Bull. I really should have just told the truth. I’m so screwed! “Don’t start panicking on me now. This breach shit’s brought all kinds of people down here. I don’t really care about your background or your secrets as long as you aren’t trying to hurt the Inquisition’s progress. But a word of advice,” He stopped here to look at you seriously, arms crossed in front of his chest. “The truth’s gonna find it’s way out eventually.” You swallowed before a wobbly smile came to rest on your face.

“I guess its a good thing I’m not hiding anything then.” Bull said nothing, but his nonplussed expression told you all you needed to know. It was only then that you became aware that you had reached the blacksmith’s shop, and you thankfully took the opportunity to change the topic. “I guess I should be getting some armor? I’ll be right back.” You made your way into the smithy with measured steps so as not to seem like you were running away. Once you were there, you were unable to hold in a sigh. That was a conversation you would be all to happy to have another day. Or never.  
The inside of the workshop was busy. People were working on building weapons for the troops in one corner, and upgrading armor in the other. Harrit was in the center of it all, helping a small elven woman who was showing him something written on a piece of paper, pointing at it intermittently. You took a couple of steps closer, but only managed to catch the tail end of the conversation.

“As long as you bring me all of the supplies you don’t have to worry about paying me. The inquisition handles that. Bring this back in when you have the materials and I’ll get you fixed up quick.” The woman nodded gratefully before folding up the paper and hurrying out of the shop. Harrit then glanced at you, a worn expression on his face. “You needing something too?”

“Would you happen to have any extra armor lying about that could fit me? I’m supposed to be traveling with the Herald to the hinterlands. I won’t be doing much fighting if any at all, but it’s better safe than sorry I suppose.” He released a snort at you before moving over to a pile of crates nestled into a corner.

“Don’t really have decent armor lying around during these times. But I might have something that can fit you.” He rustled around in the box for a moment before pulling out a chain mail shirt. “Put this on. I should have a breastplate around here too.” He moved to check the other box as you took off your sword and bag to don the shirt over your clothes. It was far too big for you. The sleeves came down to half your forearm and the bottom of it hung to your knees before hiking up to mid thigh at the sides like some kind of strange dress. You managed to keep your distaste from showing on your face as you reattached your make shift bag to your side. 

“This should fit you a bit better. I don’t think they were expecting to get in as many non human recruits as they did. They’ll probably work on fixing that when they get more money, but for now we’ll make do.” You took the bronze breastplate from him and put it on after a moment of fumbling with it. Thankfully it fit a bit better, but it was still looser than you would have liked it. “You won’t have to worry about that for much longer. If you’re to be a companion to the Herald, I’m sure they’ll have me making something for you soon. I’ll be here if you need anything else.” You traced your fingers over the Inquisition symbol that had been carved into the metal with a faint smile on your face. Then you looked back up towards Harrit.

“Thank you so much! And this is probably none of my business, but you should get some rest. There’s so many people working here. I’m sure the smithy wouldn’t burn to the ground while you were away, and the Inquisition needs you at your best.” You reached out an arm to pat him on the shoulder awkwardly before slinging the sword over your shoulder and onto your back. Then you made your way over to The Iron Bull, unable to contain your smile. You pressed your hand to the front of the breastplate once more before giggling.

“This just might be the coolest thing I’ve ever owned!” You paused for a moment before you continued speaking, shooting a glance up at Bull from the corner of your eyes. “I never thought I’d be apart of the Inquisition, I mean. I’ve always sort of been on the outside, but now I’m here. Its-”, you paused, the smile falling off of your face as you realized what you were going to say. “It’s real.” Dread filled the pit of your stomach and you found yourself beginning to sweat despite the cold winter air. Shaking your head, you pushed that thought away onto your rapidly growing list of things to deal with later. “Let’s get going, yeah? I feel like I’ve already made everyone late.” Without waiting for him to respond, you began heading back to the group, not stopping until you had pushed your way through the people hovering around the Inquisitor.  
“  
Well, look who finally decided to show up.” You tilted your head in Varric’s direction before waving an arm in front of your new armor.

“I was busy getting suited up as you can see.” You looked over the rest of the group, eyes widening once you noticed Cassandra’s form next to a druffalo loaded with bags. “I didn’t know you were coming, Cassandra.” Once she finished tying another bag to the animal’s side, she turned towards the rest of the group, resting a hand on her hip.

“Yes. I’ve had much to do as of late. I was unsure as to whether or not I would be able to return with the Harold on this trip. Fortunately, I was able to complete all that I needed to.” You hummed lightly, nodding your head before you made your way over to the druffalo, placing a hand in front of its nose. It huffed once before turning its head to the side and appraising you with a single eye. 

“I just want you to know that I love you.” The great beast shook its head and you were unable to resist a smile, warmth bubbling up in your chest. You gently placed your other hand on top of the creature’s head, curling your fingers into the lighter colored fur. “Lovely thing, you.”

“All it would take is a single head-butt and you’d be sent flying into an early grave.” A wave of heat travelled through your face and you yanked your hand back away from the druffalo. “Ah, careful now. Wouldn’t want you to get caught on one of the horns.”

“Cullen!” You turned towards him, clasping your hands together behind your back. “I was just admiring the druffalo. I’ve never been this close to one before.” He nodded at this, a look of confusion appearing on his face for a moment before he moved to speak, tilting his head down towards you.

“Have your memories still not returned? I figured they would have by now. Perhaps we should have had Solas take another look at you.” He trailed off for a moment before coughing lightly and rubbing the back of his neck. “Not that you need another person looking after you, I’m sure, but-” The blush that was starting to appear on his face promptly receded once his eyes found Rasiha’s form. He cleared his throat once, giving you an awkward half bow, half nod hybrid as well as a wobbly smile before walking in her direction. You pressed a hand to your face to cover your smile before turning back to the druffalo. You only had a few more moments to pet it before you heard Rasiha begin to talk over the other voices in the area

“Inquisition! When we next return, we will have acquired either the help of the mages or the templars. For now, train hard and assist those who come to Haven seeking aid. The breach will be sealed soon enough, but in order to make it through this, we will all need to help each other.” 

There was a moment of silence, interrupted with only a few murmurs of agreement before a soldier in the crowd shouted out, “For Thedas!” They were echoed by a majority of the crowd, and Rasiha nodded her head once before turning on her heel and walking towards the forest near the house where you had found the notes for the Apothecary. One by one, the rest of the Inquisitor’s party members began to follow her, walking past you with varying expressions. One of the soldiers tapped the druffalo on its side before walking in front of it, the animal following soon after. You admired the small group as they began to walk away, and if you focused hard enough, you could actually hear the inquisition theme song faintly in the back of your head. A smile broke out on your face, and you watched them walk for a moment longer before running through the snow to catch up with them.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you opened your eyes, you found yourself looking at the ceiling of your apartment. You sat up quickly, noting with some alarm that your phone and keys were lying on the floor next to you. Did I fall asleep before I could even go on my run? Was all of that just a dream? Something felt off, but you attributed it to falling on the floor and possibly hitting your head. You looked at your phone for the time. Only 30 minutes had passed since you had decided to leave your apartment. Furrowing your brows, you stood up and made your way to the kitchen, determined to get a drink of water.  
The hairs on your neck stood up, and you felt the peculiar sensation of someone watching you. After pressing a hand to your chest, you looked over your shoulder only to find that there was nothing there. Ignoring your increasing heart rate, you walked into your kitchen before pulling a bottle of water out of your refrigerator and downing it as quickly as you could. Then you tossed the empty bottle onto your counter to be dealt with later. You made your way over to your couch before throwing yourself down onto it, pressing your trembling hands together on your lap. Then you closed your eyes.

“O.k. Everything is gonna be fine. I’ve just gotta take some deep breaths. I’ll go see a doctor in the morning and get all of this figured out.” You took a breath before holding it in for a moment and slowly exhaling. Then you opened your eyes, shrinking back into your seat once you realized you were no longer in your apartment.

You appeared to be sitting close to the runway of a…fashion show? Suddenly, everything hit you all at once and you clasped your hands over your ears in order to get away from the loud, bass filled music that was playing. Too tall models, made even taller by their shoes, were strutting down the walkway, each staring at you as they walked past your seat. They were dressed in bizarre clothes, their make-up giving them the appearance of monsters instead of the people you hoped they actually were. Lights began flashing, and people in the crowd shifted in the changing colors, morphing into strange demon-like creatures before shifting back again. No matter who you looked at, their eyes were already on you, emotionless gazes causing you to begin to panic all over again.

Fighting back sobs, you jumped up and ran down the aisle closest to the walkway. The music continued playing and the lights were still flashing even as the other people in the room watched you run. The only movement besides you and the chaotic swinging of the lights was the almost robotic like turning of the attendee’s heads as they watched you run towards the exit. It had appeared almost as though summoned by your thoughts, but you weren’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth in your time of need. You closed your eyes, pushing for an extra burst of speed before you flung yourself through the emergency exit. You didn’t stop running until you were on the other side of the street. You turned back to look at the building only to crumble to your knees once you realized that you were looking at the front of your apartment complex.

“Fear is good. Yes, Fear is good”, The deep, raspy voice was carried to you in the wind, and you were no longer able to hold back your sobs. You blinked rapidly to clear your blurry vision, wiping away your tears with balled fists when that failed to work.

“What’s wrong with me? I don’t understand what’s going on.” After coughing to clear your throat, you moved into a sitting position. Then you pulled your shaking limbs in towards yourself, wrapping your arms around your legs and burying your face between your knees. “God I’m so scared!” You have no idea how much time passed while you sat there, but eventually you could hear the sounds of pedestrians and cars. Still you did not move.

“Y/N?” You stiffened at the sound of his voice. “I sensed your distress, and so I came but,” Solas trailed off, and you allowed yourself to look up. He wasn’t looking at you, more focused on your neighborhood and the people and objects in it. If you were in a better mood, you would perhaps have laughed at him simply for how out of place he appeared. As it was, you refrained from doing so.

“S-Solas, is that really you?” The sky had turned green, and you noticed that the cars and people around you were beginning to fade away revealing a snow covered forest made of varying shades of green to your eyes. 

“It is, yes. You are safe now. You were merely dreaming in the fade. It would appear fear demons got to you before I could, but I am here now.” You wiped your face off with the inside of your shirt before hurrying to stand next to him. You hadn’t stopped shaking yet, but at least you no longer felt like you were having a heart attack. If Solas was put off by your closeness, he said nothing, allowing his sharp gaze to travel along your shivering form once before returning to your face. “I have questions, but I believe this would not be the best time to get answers. Such things can wait until you have calmed down, and after you wake up.”

You sat up quickly, smacking your head against something hard and proceeding to immediately lay down again, only this time groaning and gripping your head.

“Sorry, but I was trying to wake you up. It seemed like you were having a nightmare.” You rolled over onto your side and groaned again before releasing your head and wiping at your face, surprised to find that you had apparently been crying in your sleep.

“Ugh. Was that your head? Holy shit!” She snorted and you shot a glare in her direction. Then you flopped over onto your back and looked at the ceiling of the small tent before releasing a sigh. “I’m kind of jealous, you know. If someone ever pisses you off, you could just head-butt them and boom! They’d be laid out. Ah, that’s the dream.” She said nothing, and you looked over to find her staring at you with a measured gaze.

“Are you doing alright? You lost your entire clan. I can’t imagine this has been easy for you.” Your eyes darted away as you thought back to both your lie and your dream. Then you sighed and sat up, turning your body in the direction of her hunched over form.

“I had a dream that I was back home, but things were different, bad. I guess it doesn’t matter now. Solas said there were fear demons involved so I’m not sure how much of that was me.”

“That’s amazing! I had forgotten that he’s a somniari”, She paused here to release startled laughter. “Before I joined the Inquisition, I thought that they were myths. Now, not only do I have a somniari in my party, but a seer as well. The world is perhaps stranger than I could ever have imagined.” She stretched as much as she could in the small space of your shared tent before sighing and moving towards the fastened flaps of fabric that held it closed. “Don’t worry about the dreams. They’ll pass soon enough.” With that, she pulled open the tent flaps and crawled outside, leaving you to your thoughts.

Once you were alone, you groaned, slapping your hands onto your face. How much did he see? Though you personally hadn’t seen the cars, you had certainly heard them, and if you had unconsciously shaped the fade like you thought you had, he’d most certainly seen cars as well as cell phones, traffic lights ,and your apartment building. You rolled over onto your side again, clenching your teeth together to avoid screaming. Of course he had questions, though you weren’t exactly sure how you would able to answer most of them without causing him to become more confused. Solas is a smart guy. I’m quite sure he’ll figure it out. You remained in the tent for only a few more moments before you forced yourself to get up and go outside.

The first rays of sunlight were starting to spill through the naked tree branches, causing what little snow had fallen overnight to sparkle. It was pretty, but you found yourself missing the warmth that the rune leaden tent provided. Only a few people were awake besides the soldiers that had been given the last watch of the night. Cassandra was already up, practicing with her sword a little ways from where camp was set up. Rasiha was hunched over near the fire and writing something down onto parchment, a raven perched beside her on the log she was sitting on. Varric was sitting across from her, whistling lightly as he cleaned his crossbow. You were eighty five percent sure that you had seen him clean it last night, but who were you to judge, really?

You redressed in your amour before finding a stalk of elfroot and cutting the leaves off, placing those in your makeshift bag for later. Then you began to chew on the stalk as you took down the tent. You had yet to pass any merchant shops, and you technically didn’t have any money. So elfroot stalks were the closest thing to a toothbrush and tooth paste that you had. It tired your jaw and left you with a bitter after taste in your mouth, but clean teeth were definitely worth it. After you packed up the tent and attached it onto the harness that hung from the druffalo’s side, you made your way over to Cassandra, You had taken to training with her in the mornings so you would actually know how to use your sword. Simply swinging it around had worked for you during the fade, but you were sure the same approach wouldn’t work if you ever had to participate in an actual fight.

“You’re late.” She gave you a disapproving look from the corner of her eye before twirling her sword around in her hand and letting it rest at her side. “You can not expect to get better with a sword if you have no discipline.” You unsheathed your sword before moving into the fighting stance she had shown you.

“Sorry Cass. I didn’t get much rest.” She hummed before walking beside you and moving your foot slightly to correct your stance. Then she moved back in front of you, meeting your gaze with her own.

“You may begin. And don’t call me that.” You nodded your head to show that you had heard her before swinging your arms down in a diagonal motion. You had been instructed to do 35 of them per side a day until you became accustomed to the weight of your sword. It was probably just your imagination because you had only been travelling for a few days, but you could have sworn that you were already starting to see the beginnings of muscle definition in your arms.

After you completed both sets, Cassandra tossed you a wooden sword. It was actually heavier than the one you sword you intended to use, but you supposed it would only help you learn faster. You sheathed your metal sword and placed it on the ground a little bit away from where you and Cassandra were practicing and she glared at the object.

“There is something odd about your sword. Where did you get it?” Technically the fade, but you didn’t really need to tell her that. You swung the wooden sword up and placed what would have been the edge of an actual blade on your shoulder.

“I found it in an abandoned house before all of this.” You made a sweeping gesture with your free hand before shrugging your shoulders. “You’re the first to have noticed anything off about it.” She said nothing, merely nodding before moving into a fighting stance. You mirrored her movements, shifting into a defensive position when she moved to attack.

She was much too fast for you, and you found yourself more concerned about tripping over your own feet than you were about attacking her. You blocked all that you could, but more often than not, her attacks would be followed by the sound wood hitting the metal on your arms or breastplate. When she actually knocked the sword out of your hands you admitted defeat, placing your hands onto your knees and panting as you tried to regain your breath.  
You laughed before picking the wooden sword up and placing your hands on your hips. “Jesus, Cassandra. You’re just too good.” After you regained your breath, you shot a smile at her, slinging your sword onto your back and returning the wooden sword to her. Then the two of you made your way over the fire where nearly everyone else had gathered. In fact, the only party member that wasn't there was Solas, and that was because he was busy doing yoga near where his tent had previously been. You sat down onto a log by Cassandra, intent on joining the conversation.

"I've already sent an update to Mother Giselle. We're only about a days travel away from our first camp if we make good time." Bull spoke after Rasiha, looking up towards the sky.

"Damn. I just knew we'd get in a good fight before we made it back." He looked towards you smirking. "Guess I'll just have to wait a while to see how you'll do in a real fight." You narrowed your eyes at him before placing your hands onto your knees and leaning over towards his form.

"Cassandra's been training me so I'm sure I'll be ready in no time. In fact, I'll be able to take you on soon enough." He snorted before crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm ready anytime, kid. Just say the word."

"Easy Tiny", Varric interrupted. "We don't want to break her. And you should start with an easier target.” He lifted his mug, pointing it in your direction. “Try killing a goat first, Fen." You grimaced at the nickname, unable to resist looking towards Solas’ form.

“Remind me why I let you call me that again. Names that start with Fen don’t really have all that great a rep in Dalish culture.” Solas shifted into another position, the bottom of his shirt rising up to show a strip of pale skin, and you rushed to look away, feeling the heat rise in your face.

“It was between that or hands, remember?” He was referring to your habit of making sweeping motions with your hands when you talked, and you found yourself unable to resist face-palming. “I was going to call you Bunny given that you’re easily startled and love to run”, he paused here to finish the last of whatever was in his mug before continuing, “But I’m not that kind of asshole.” You rolled your eyes at him before looking towards the druffalo where Cassandra and Rasiha were now standing.

After giving it a moment of thought, you nodded your head before lifting your hands into the air in a sign of defeat. “That’s fair. You totally could have lied and said its because I remind you of Fenris though. We’re both devastatingly attractive elves with giant swords. That would have been a confidence booster.” He stopped stamping out the fire to shoot you a look over his shoulder.

“You know Broody?” You froze, mouth falling open and eyebrows rising as you thought of a response.

“Technically, no. I’ve had visions about more than just Inquisition you know. I even had some about The Hero of Ferelden, but most of that is a bit fuzzy. ‘Cause I was just a kid, Y'know.” You leaned back on the log, tilting your head up at the sky once you saw his incredulous expression. “And I’d have to read up on it to see which paths actually played out. There were a lot of different outcomes that could have gotten us to this exact same place, believe it or not.” You stood up in a rush, dusting off the back of your pants and shooting him a smile. “We’re about to leave so I’m just gonna… Yeah!” You nodded your head once before making your way over to Cassandra and Rasiha.

Normally, they walked in the front of the group. Varric alternated on the sides, and Solas stood in the middle near the druffalo. Bull always took the rear, and the few inquisition soldiers that had come with you generally scouted ahead, leaving one to remain on the side Varric was not on. It made sense. The druffalo was carrying all of the supplies. If something were to happen to the beast, it would be nearly impossible to carry all of the rations and supplies. So it was in the most protected area of all. Naturally, that was where you had spent much of your time thus far, but the proximity to Solas wasn’t exactly something you found yourself looking forward too. Unfortunately, this sudden change in routine didn’t go noticed. You all had been walking for no more than a few hours when Varric brought it up.

“So did Solas piss you off? I thought you two were near inseparable, but you didn’t say a word to him at all this morning.” You said nothing for a moment, to focused on your aching feet and the way they slid around in your still too large boots before responding to him.

“I just wanted to walk with the girls for a bit.” You turned around, walking backwards so you could face him. The air was considerably warmer, and there was hardly any snow left of the ground so you no longer feared slipping on ice and making a fool of yourself. “Solas and I are still cool. Right, ma falon?” You didn’t allow yourself to look directly at him, but-rather- somewhere over his right shoulder. Despite this, you were still able to make out a look of confusion on his face.

“I was unaware you knew elvish.” You couldn’t help but to smirk before nodding your head.

“I don’t know a bunch. Only what I was in my visions. I wasn’t ever going to be a keeper but I know some other stuff too.” You stopped speaking for a moment, gaze shifting to Bull as you thought. You clapped your hands together, a smile breaking out onto your face as you thought of something you could say. “Sataareth kadan hass-toh issala ebasit!” Bull raised an eyebrow at you and you continued on unfazed, “I also vaguely remember what Sten was saying when he first met The Hero of Ferelden, but it was kinda a mouth full. And I know this really cool phrase that an old dwarven paragon said. I think his name was Carin or Cardin? Let’s see, what was it exactly? Atrast nal tunsha!” You let out excited laughter once you recalled the phrase, not really noticing the looks you were getting from the other party members. “I mean how badass is that? May you always find your way in the dark. Those are some great last words right the-” You were interrupted once the body of the Inquisition soldier that had been patrolling opposite of Varric crumbled to the ground, an arrow sticking out of the front of his helmet. All too late you noticed another arrow fly through the air, landing in the thick pelt of the druffalo. It reared on its hind legs, making a near deafening roar before charging past Varric and into the forest. 

All at once there was the sound of screams as people rushed out of the woods and towards your party. You couldn’t tell how many enemies there were in total. About ten? You weren’t entirely sure why the number even mattered as you watched Bull cleave a man in half, both halves flying in different directions. You stumbled backwards, watching as the carnage unfolded before you. Cassandra and Rasiha were both facing off against two giant men in full suits of armor. Varric was letting loose bolts out of his crossbow all the while making witty remarks. You couldn’t see Solas but you could hear him, the sounds of magic startlingly loud and familiar in your ears. The scouts who had been sent ahead had apparently come back to join in the fight at some point, and there was the distinct sound of something being thrown(shot?) in your direction.

Solas let out a call of your name and suddenly there was a wall of ice between you, a knife resting in the air near your face. You tried to take a step back only to slip, feet sliding forward inside your boots, and crack your head on the ground. For a moment, there was nothing but darkness. Then you could see again, and the pain thrumming through your head made you want to retch. You sat up cautiously, vision swimming and only had a moment to register a person hovering over you before you were slammed back into the ground again. Only this time, you were held there by the strong press of fingers against your throat.

You clawed at the hands squeezing your neck but nothing happened. If anything the pressure only increased and you found yourself beginning to panic. You couldn’t even really see the person on top of you, only making out a blurry mess of silver, framed by bare tree branches and a blue sky. You lifted one hand to press into the metal helmet, weakly trying to push your assailant away. Black spots started to appear in your vision and you released your hold on the hands that were still around your neck, feeling around for anything that could keep you alive. You felt your hand get sliced on something, and you grabbed it, ignoring the sting of metal cutting into your skin as you picked it up. Then, using your last bit of strength, you jabbed the object into the area just below the person’s helmet. Nothing happened, and your arms collapsed to your sides, vision fading. You faintly heard someone calling your name.  
Then the pressure was removed from your neck and you took in a deep breath of air, gasping greedily. Blinking rapidly to clear your vision, you realized that your attacker now lay on top of you, arms folded up in between your bodies. Fear surged through you and you pushed the person over and off of you, eyes widening once you saw the dagger sticking out of their neck.

“Oh my god.” Their eyes flashed around wildly as they started to convulse and you felt tears begin to fall down your face. You pressed your hands to their wound in an effort to stop the bleeding, ignoring the sensation of the tacky, hot blood rushing through your fingers. You began to talk, ignoring how much it hurt your throat to do so. “I’m so sorry! Oh my god! I didn’t mean it, I swear.” They convulsed one last time, eyes searching yours before wheezing once and stilling. Far away you could still hear the sound of fighting, and somewhere in the back of your mind you knew you were still in danger, but all you could do was stare down at the body and their now glassy eyes. You stood up on wobbly legs, barely making it to the edge of the forest before you had to lean over, holding onto a tree and retching. Once you were done, you wiped your mouth on your chain mail shirt, ignoring the scrape of metal against your skin. Then you continued on into the forest, paying no mind to where you were walking.

“Holy shit. Holy shit! This can’t be real?!” Despite what you wanted to believe, the very real pain stemming from your headache caused you to think otherwise. You clasped a bloody hand over your mouth before walking faster, increasing your speed until you were almost running. “Oh no. Oh god, I killed someone. I gotta get home!” You continued staggering on until you came upon the druffalo, resting across from you on the other side of a thin stream. Upon seeing you, the beast brayed, swinging its head about in a manner that reminded you of exactly what would happen I you got too close to one of it’s horns.

“I-Its alright. Its just me. You remember me right?” Its nostrils flared and you nodded in realization. “Right I smell like- I don’t smell like myself.” You untied your bag from your waist and took off your sword, tossing them to the other side of the stream a little bit away from where the druffalo was laying. Then you took off the breast plate and the chain mail shirt, setting them into the water to get cleaned. As an after thought, you stuck your face and hands into the water a little further upstream, sending out a prayer to any and all deities that the water was clean enough for you to be sticking your face in it. Even once the water ran clear, you still felt dirty, but you shook it off and returned your eyes to the druffalo. It hadn’t gotten up yet, but you were pretty sure that was only because of the pain the arrow was causing. Cautiously, you walked over to it, sticking your hand out and allowing for it to smell you while remaining a safe distance away from it’s horns. Only once the wild look faded from its eyes, did you allow yourself to move closer, cooing in its ear.

“It’s all right big guy. I’m here with you now. I’m sure the others will find us soon.” You blinked, and suddenly you felt separate from your body, as though you were merely a passenger in a car rather than the driver. You watched yourself as you moved to take off your boots, the motions of your hands jerky and slow. Then you threw them into the small stream, staring disinterestedly when they landed next to the chain mail shirt. A strange giddiness overtook you once you realized that you were disassociating, and you burst into laughter, grasping your sides to assuage the ache you felt coming on. You doubled over, slapping your knees as you tried to control the laughter. Then you threw your shivering form to the ground, looking up at the sky. The laughter slowly dissolved into giggles, and before you knew it, you were crying. The sound of too loud footsteps forced you back into yourself, once again in control of your body. You scrambled to reach your sword, holding it in trembling arms as you turned about wildly.

“Relax, Da’len. It is only me.” Relief flooded through you at Solas’ voice, and you allowed yourself to fall back to the ground, the sword landing with a muffled thump in the grass. You focused on his approaching figure, noting with distress that he was the only one coming. There was no blood on his clothes, and he didn’t look anymore disheveled than usual, but still you worried.

“What happened to everyone else? Are they alright?!” Your voice was shrill even to you, causing you to cringe. “I mean, nobody go hurt right? Besides the guy who got shot in the head, I guess. Is it bad that I can’t even remember his name?” He crouched before you and took your chin in his hands, tilting your head to the side while looking at your eyes. “I think it was Tim, or James, something like that anyway. Man you’re really close aren’t ya? Might want to scoot back a bit. I washed my mouth out, but I definitely have puke breath.” He let lose a breath of air that might have been a chuckle before sliding his hand to the back of your head, fingers probing about until he touched a knot that made you wince.

“It would seem you have a slight concussion. Drink this,” He handed you a small potion off of the belt at his waist. Then he took your left hand, flipping it over and frowning at the cut in your palm which was still bleeding slightly. He allowed his free hand to hover over it, glowing a dull green, and you watched as the skin knit itself back together. Then he fixed you with a stern look. “Drink the potion, Da’len.”

“Uh, yeah! Right. Sure.” You nodded your head rapidly, only succeeding in making yourself dizzy before you downed the potion in a couple of gulps, gagging at the bitter taste. Then you turned to watch Solas as he healed the druffalo. “Dude, I’m so jealous. I wish I was a mage.”

“It has it’s perks, but even I must agree that this isn’t the best time to be a mage.” He stood up and made his way over to the area of the stream where your shed armor was, frowning at it. “You will have to put these back on. The others are handling the bodies, but we must still reach camp by nightfall.” You nodded before standing up and making your way over to him. You took the chain mail shirt out of his hands, pulling it over your head and humming when you noticed that it was dry.

“I’m not wearing the boots though. They’re way too big, and I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t been wearing them I wouldn’t have…” You paused here to put on the breastplate with trembling hands. “I wouldn’t have kil- You know what?! I’m just not going to wear them.” You nodded your head once before looking up at him. He pursed his lips before rustling through one of the many pouches at his sides.

“I see. Perhaps you should try using wraps instead.” He pulled out two bundles of rolled fabric, each a dark mossy green, before holding them out to you. “Am I right in assuming you haven’t worn these before?” You nodded and he tilted his head downwards in response. Then he gestured to a tree stump next to the stream. “Sit. I will show you how to put them on.”

You did as he instructed, heart rate speeding up when he kneeled in front of you and took your right ankle into his hand. You were only half paying attention as he unrolled the fabric and began wrapping it around your foot and up towards your leg, more focused on the press of his fingers into your skin. You trailed your eyes up his pale hands and towards his arms, watching as his muscles swelled and relaxed beneath the fabric of his shirt. From there you followed the planes of his shoulders and the slope of his neck, sighing once you took in his plush lips. A smattering of freckles decorated his face, and his pale blue eyes were framed by full, dark lashes. Holy fuck, he’s attractive. 

A light squeeze on your ankle pulled you out of your thoughts, and you found yourself staring into the same eyes you had just been thinking about. Heat flooded your face, and you yanked your ankle out of his grasp, ignoring the slight smirk on his face.

“Uh, I can take it from here. Thanks.” You rushed to put the wrap on like he had, forcing it over your cell phone and grimacing at the fact that it made the left side shorter than the right. Once you were finished, you stood up and reattached your bag to your side. Then you slung your sword onto your back. You couldn’t resist rolling your eyes when you saw that Solas’ expression hadn’t changed. “Stop smirking you ass. You know you’re attractive.” You picked up the small potion bottle from where you had dropped it and shoved it into your bag before picking up your soaking boots and walking back towards the druffalo. “I know you have questions, and I will answer them all truthfully. But it would be easier to discuss in the fade. There are some things that would be less time consuming if I just showed them to you.” You were unable to see his facial expression because he was turned away from you, hands clasped together behind his back. You did, however, see him nod once. Then he spoke, glancing at you over his shoulder.

“Let us return.” With that, he began to walk away from you, striding into the forest. You took a steadying breath, before nodding to yourself. Then you motioned for the druffalo to come with you, following Solas out of the forest.


End file.
